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Lord M'Baku is the leader of the Jabari Tribe, a group of Wakandans who have removed themselves from mainstream society, and a staunch opponent of T'Challa's rule who ends up torn between challenging him for the throne only to help him defend Wakanda from Erik Killmonger. Seeing the threat that Killmonger posed to the world, M'Baku chose to save T'Challa's life and gathered his armies to help defeat Killmonger in their final battle, with M'Baku gaining a seat on the Tribal Council as a result of his choice.

Leader of the Jabari

M'Baku grew up in Jabari Land, where he learned to shun the Golden City's use of Vibranium and held distaste for its mainstream lifestyle. Eventually, M'Baku gained leadership over the tribe and set out to rule over the Jabari Tribe. M'Baku was disgusted as the technological advancements of Wakanda had been overseen by Shuri who, in his opinion, had no respect for tradition. Disappointed in the rulership of the Golden Tribe, M'Baku decided to become the new King to return Wakanda to the old lifestyle.[1]

During T'Challa's coronation, Zuri asked if any warrior would challenge for the throne. M'Baku stepped forward, declaring himself as a challenger. T'Challa accepted M'Baku's challenge, with the duel commencing. M'Baku managed to restrain T'Challa in a bear hug, beginning to crush him under his strength. Hearing the Wakandans chanting his name prompting him to get back up, T'Challa managed to escape the bear hug and crack M'Baku's ceremonial mask, stunning him.

T'Challa then pushed M'Baku to the edge of the Warrior Falls, where he pinned M'Baku, telling him to yield, as he didn't want to kill him. M'Baku continued to struggle under T'Challa's grasp but ceased when T'Challa told him that the Jabari Tribe needed him. M'Baku yielded, and accepted T'Challa as the victor, leaving the Falls and heading back to Jabari Land.[1]

Saving T'Challa

M'Baku welcoming his enemies to his home

"You cannot talk! One more word and I will feed you to my children. I'm kidding. We are vegetarians."

After T'Challa was presumably killed by his cousin, Erik Killmonger, M'Baku has the severely wounded T'Challa, who happened to be found by Jabari Tribe fishermen, to be brought back to the tribe and covered with snow to stabilize his failing vital signs, as a repayment for sparing his life during the tribal combat. They were, however, unable to nurse him back to health, due to lacking the advanced technology the rest of the country shares.[1]

When Ramonda, Shuri, Nakia, and Everett Ross came to offer M'Baku a Heart-Shaped Herb, he took them to T'Challa, who had survived his fight with Erik Killmonger but had to be placed in ice to keep him in a coma, otherwise he would die. They fed the herb to T'Challa, effectively reviving him. Afterward, M'Baku provided shelter to Ramonda, while the remaining went to fight Killmonger. T'Challa requested the Jabari's aid, only for M'Baku to initially refuse.[1]

When the Dora Milaje were about to be defeated by the Border Tribe, M'Baku, seemingly realizing T'Challa was right about keeping Vibranium out of Erik Killmonger's hands, and the Jabari Tribe appeared to provide aid, alongside Ramonda giving the Dora Milaje another chance. Later, W'Kabi tried to run M'Baku over with a rhino, but Okoye stood in the way, causing the rhino to stop its assault and licked her face while M'Baku ran off to face another opponent. Shortly after this, the Border Tribe surrendered under W'Kabi's orders, not wanting to see his own people kill one another.[1]

M'Baku joined the armies led by T'Challa as large hordes of Outriders prepared to invade Wakanda. Along with the rest of the Jabari Tribe, M'Baku shouted the traditional battle cry before going into battle with other Wakandan soldiers and a part of the Avengers.

M'Baku seeing other Wakandans disintegrate

M'Baku valiantly fought against the Outriders, but despite their best efforts and their ability to withstand the assault, the Wakandan army still could not prevent Thanos from finally fulfilling his ultimate goal of causing the Snap and wiping out half of the life in the universe. M'Baku had watched on as many of the surviving Wakandan warriors faded out of existence with bewilderment and clear horror and shock on his face as he had struggled to understand what's happening.[2]

Personality

M'Baku was believed to have a ruthless personality. So ruthless that Ramonda believed they might create an even bigger monster than Erik Killmonger by giving him a Heart-Shaped Herb. In reality, M'Baku is simply a stern leader with a strong sense of honor. He holds great respect for T'Challa, which is shown by having him saving his life as a favor for sparing him in ritual combat. Also, rather than taking the Heart Shaped Herb for himself, M'Baku chose to let Ramonda, Nakia and Shuri use it to save T'Challa. He sometimes maintains his "ruthless" demeanor as part of his twisted sense of humor, as shown by his threatening to feed Everett Ross to his children, only for him to jokingly reveal that his children are vegetarians, at which point he could not stop himself from laughing at how scared they were.

M'Baku is also shown to be quite open-minded. He initially chose to die over yielding in ritual combat, but when T'Challa told him that his people needed him to lead them, he yielded. Later on, when T'Challa requested Jabari Tribe's help to take down Erik Killmonger, he initially refused, but he later decided to help T'Challa when he realized the latter was right about the destruction that would happen if vibranium fell into the wrong hands.

In the two years since the Battle of Mount Bashenga, ever since M'Baku became a member of the Tribal Council, M'Baku and T'Challa's relationship appeared to have improved significantly. M'Baku and the Jabari did not hesitate to join T'Challa in the battle against Thanos' forces, and M'Baku even friendly addressed T'Challa as "brother".

Abilities

Expert Combatant: As the leader of the Jabari Tribe, M'Baku is highly well versed in armed and unarmed combat, often effectively using his size, weight and strength in his fighting style. He is proficient in the use of blades, shields and blunt weapons. His skill is well-known and feared among Wakanda, as Nakia believed that with T'Challa seemingly gone, M'Baku was the only Wakandan who could possibly defeat Erik Killmonger in ritual combat and even Ramonda, the Queen Mother, said that if M'Baku were to drink the Heart-Shaped Herb, he may have become even more terrifying in battle than Killmonger. In his duel with T'Challa in ritual combat, M'Baku was able to gain the upper hand and nearly defeat him, with T'Challa only barely coming out on top. During the Battle of Mount Bashenga, M'Baku easily defeated many Border Tribe members and survived with no injury. When he and the Jabari Tribe aided the rest of Wakanda and the Avengers in the Battle of Wakanda, M'Baku defeated many Outriders and emerged as one of the few survivors of the battle while sustaining only minor injuries.

Knobkerrie Proficiency: M'Baku is highly skilled in the use of a knobkerrie. M'Baku has used a knobkerrie to great effect during his many fights such as his duel with T'Challa and the fight against Thanos and his alien armies.

Bilingualism: M'Baku is fluent in his native language, Igbo, as well as English.

Equipment

M'Baku donning his Jabari armor

Hardened Jabari Wood Armor: To be added

Knobkerrie: M'Baku was rarely seen without his knobkerrie, which he could use in two different ways, as the round end could be used to hit hard and stun adversaries while the pointy end enabled him to stab his opponents as he did with T'Challa during their duel.

Trivia

In the comics, M'Baku is the second most powerful warrior in Wakanda after T'Challa and the leader of the White Gorilla Cult under the name of Man-Ape.

Behind the Scenes

Black Panther producer Nate Moore stated “We don’t call him Man-Ape, we do call him M’Baku. Having a black character dress up as an ape, I think there’s a lot of racial implications that don’t sit well if done wrong. But the idea that they worship the gorilla gods is interesting because it’s a movie about the Black Panther who, himself, is a sort of deity in his own right.”[3]